Molesting conviction of ex-Walt Disney Elementary teacher will stand

Appeals court denies request of Timothy Wyllie to take back guilty plea.

Appeals court denies request of Timothy Wyllie to take back guilty plea.

December 12, 2008|By PABLO ROS Tribune Staff Writer

The Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday denied a former Walt Disney Elementary teacher's request to have his child molesting conviction thrown out. In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals judges ruled that Timothy J. Wyllie did not present sufficient evidence for post-conviction relief. Wyllie had asked to take back his guilty plea on one count of child molesting, a Class A felony, for molesting a 9-year-old female student, claiming he had not voluntarily and knowingly entered into his plea agreement. Wyllie also claimed he had been incorrectly sentenced, that his lawyer had been ineffective and that the section of Indiana law that deals with child molesting was unconstitutional. But the Court of Appeals found that the plea agreement Wyllie signed gave a judge discretion at sentencing, and that Wyllie had been aware of that. The judges also found that Wyllie had understood the agreement and entered into it voluntarily, that he had waived any constitutional challenge to the statute under which he was convicted, and that he failed to show his lawyer had been ineffective. Wyllie is currently serving a roughly eight-year federal prison term for child pornography in connection with crimes against the same girl. He claimed in his petition for post-conviction relief that he had been misled into believing that he could serve his sentence for child molesting concurrently, or at the same time, as the federal sentence. Instead, Wyllie was sentenced in 2005 to serve 30 years in prison for child molesting. Judge Roland W. Chamblee Jr. ordered Wyllie to serve that sentence after his release from federal prison. Wyllie, who was a practicing attorney before his employment at Walt Disney, abused a student at the school in May 2001. The victim filed a lawsuit against the P-H-M school corporation, which was settled last year for $2.9 million.